This invention is in the field of automatically enabling or restricting certain capabilities of cellular telephone devices in response to being in certain areas.
People attending a concert, or similar event, are distracted and irritated when cellular telephones and pagers ring. During a quiet and delicate passage, a musician can be distracted by a ringing cellular telephone, stopping the performance. Attendees at churches, synagogues, lecture halls, and even restaurants are similarly distracted by cellular telephones, pagers, wrist watches, and other electronic devices that reproduce or generate audio signals. Cellular telephones should not be used in airplanes. However, individuals do not have the courtesy to turn these devices off, or at least, mute them, when they might distract others or interfere with navigation.
Nevertheless, it is possible to automatically mute these devices by making a signal present in the concert hall, or similar area (restricted area), or through entrances or exits to these areas, which can be received by the offending device (restricted device). This inventive system will automatically mute all restricted devices in restricted areas, provided that restricted areas, or entrances to, and possibly exits from, the areas are equipped with a transmitter apparatus, and all restricted devices are fitted with a receiver apparatus, according to this invention.
Having provided devices that are needed to restrict ringing according to the parent patent (the '877), or radio-frequency transmissions from a cellular telephone according to the parent patent (the '002), these aforementioned devices can be extended to restrict other operations that are normally permitted in cellular telephones, enable certain operations that are not normally done in cellular telephones, or cause certain operations to be performed that are not normally done in cellular telephones. This continuation-in-part application exhibits enabling, restricting or causing further operations in areas where such operations are to be restricted, enabled or caused to be performed.